Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 3, No. 2, 1986 Page 50
were so controlled by them that it was no problem to accept any doctrinal idea they‘d put in
front of us.‖ Not only was it possible to present these ideas about authority to us, but it had
become necessary. After two months of practicing Intercession, the students begin to feel
that they have become rather proficient at ―receiving a word from God,‖ and could question
what staff members themselves claimed to have heard in Intercession. Also, since the
Outreach leaders would be fellow students, YWAM needed an authority other than
experience to rely on.
The first lecture stated that in God‘s Kingdom there is structure. We were also told that
―with the appointing comes the anointing.‖ This meant that when YWAM staff placed
someone in a leadership position, then, similar to Samuel appointing Saul (I Samuel 10:1),
that person was anointed by God for that position. According to YWAM, God preferred to
work through this structure and would give instructions to this anointed leader who would
pass them along to those in his charge his role was similar to that of a high priest. As soon
as a leader was chosen, God gave him special revelations – ―a word of knowledge.‖ We
were also quoted the verse from Psalms 105:15, ―Do not touch my anointed ones do my
prophets no harm,‖ as well as the passage in 2 Samuel 6:16-23, where Michael, David‘s
wife, spoke against him and became barren. This idea was applied to our outreach leaders,
and we were told that we were in grave danger if we spoke against them. ―They have been
anointed by God.‖
If we saw something that we knew was wrong, we were told -in order to maintain unity –
‖Don‘t say it, Pray it! Criticize people to God not to others.‖
Generally this is good advice and discourages gossip, but as a result, during Outreach, even
when we were aware of the lies told by our leaders and of the authoritarian demands they
placed on teammates, we remained silent. We were also afraid to say anything about this to
the YWAM staff who came to visit from King‘s. One of these staff members was later told
about some of the things that had happened on Kauai, and he said that he was disappointed
that no one had shared these perceptions with him before. He said that he had had a fairly
honest talk with the Outreach leaders, and had sensed that there were some problems, but
he added that he would have done more if he had known how serious the situation was. It
sounds as if he really tried to get a true understanding by talking with all of the mm
members, but that no one gave him an honest evaluation or very many specific complaints.
Yet when he came to visit us, he told one girl he was glad that she had not complained
because everyone else seemed to be complaining so much. When I talked with him I said
nothing about the leaders because I had been taught not to ―touch‖ God‘s anointed, and I
felt I should ―Pray it, not say it.‖ We were told many times at King‘s that ―You get the
leaders you deserve.‖ Who wants to admit that they deserve such bad leaders?
From a passage found in Genesis 9:20-27, the lecturer concluded that ―Reason should not
govern but authority [should].‖ We always used the example of David and King Saul and
said that you don‘t always have to have a good leader. ―God uses the mistakes in the
authority over us to produce His character in us.‖ Many cults support this theory, for
example, ―If the Lord has revealed the authority over you, you can be submissive, even
when the authority deviates from the win of God. In other words, you can receive some
wrong words of direction and still be a winner.‖28 One of my Outreach teammates still
maintains: ―When you are submitted to the leaders, God will be with you and bless you
even if the leaders are wrong.‖ The YWAM notion was: ―I will not be responsible if in the
process of obeying my leaders I do something that is wrong or harmful to others. My
leaders will take the blame because they are my spiritual covering.‖
Chris Ramsey, in The Final Solution, captures well both this theory of leadership and my
feeling about it: ―One of the largest mistakes made by the evangelical church in countries
where Jews were being persecuted was the belief that since government was ordained by
were so controlled by them that it was no problem to accept any doctrinal idea they‘d put in
front of us.‖ Not only was it possible to present these ideas about authority to us, but it had
become necessary. After two months of practicing Intercession, the students begin to feel
that they have become rather proficient at ―receiving a word from God,‖ and could question
what staff members themselves claimed to have heard in Intercession. Also, since the
Outreach leaders would be fellow students, YWAM needed an authority other than
experience to rely on.
The first lecture stated that in God‘s Kingdom there is structure. We were also told that
―with the appointing comes the anointing.‖ This meant that when YWAM staff placed
someone in a leadership position, then, similar to Samuel appointing Saul (I Samuel 10:1),
that person was anointed by God for that position. According to YWAM, God preferred to
work through this structure and would give instructions to this anointed leader who would
pass them along to those in his charge his role was similar to that of a high priest. As soon
as a leader was chosen, God gave him special revelations – ―a word of knowledge.‖ We
were also quoted the verse from Psalms 105:15, ―Do not touch my anointed ones do my
prophets no harm,‖ as well as the passage in 2 Samuel 6:16-23, where Michael, David‘s
wife, spoke against him and became barren. This idea was applied to our outreach leaders,
and we were told that we were in grave danger if we spoke against them. ―They have been
anointed by God.‖
If we saw something that we knew was wrong, we were told -in order to maintain unity –
‖Don‘t say it, Pray it! Criticize people to God not to others.‖
Generally this is good advice and discourages gossip, but as a result, during Outreach, even
when we were aware of the lies told by our leaders and of the authoritarian demands they
placed on teammates, we remained silent. We were also afraid to say anything about this to
the YWAM staff who came to visit from King‘s. One of these staff members was later told
about some of the things that had happened on Kauai, and he said that he was disappointed
that no one had shared these perceptions with him before. He said that he had had a fairly
honest talk with the Outreach leaders, and had sensed that there were some problems, but
he added that he would have done more if he had known how serious the situation was. It
sounds as if he really tried to get a true understanding by talking with all of the mm
members, but that no one gave him an honest evaluation or very many specific complaints.
Yet when he came to visit us, he told one girl he was glad that she had not complained
because everyone else seemed to be complaining so much. When I talked with him I said
nothing about the leaders because I had been taught not to ―touch‖ God‘s anointed, and I
felt I should ―Pray it, not say it.‖ We were told many times at King‘s that ―You get the
leaders you deserve.‖ Who wants to admit that they deserve such bad leaders?
From a passage found in Genesis 9:20-27, the lecturer concluded that ―Reason should not
govern but authority [should].‖ We always used the example of David and King Saul and
said that you don‘t always have to have a good leader. ―God uses the mistakes in the
authority over us to produce His character in us.‖ Many cults support this theory, for
example, ―If the Lord has revealed the authority over you, you can be submissive, even
when the authority deviates from the win of God. In other words, you can receive some
wrong words of direction and still be a winner.‖28 One of my Outreach teammates still
maintains: ―When you are submitted to the leaders, God will be with you and bless you
even if the leaders are wrong.‖ The YWAM notion was: ―I will not be responsible if in the
process of obeying my leaders I do something that is wrong or harmful to others. My
leaders will take the blame because they are my spiritual covering.‖
Chris Ramsey, in The Final Solution, captures well both this theory of leadership and my
feeling about it: ―One of the largest mistakes made by the evangelical church in countries
where Jews were being persecuted was the belief that since government was ordained by
